DOVER - In a special-called meeting of the Dover City Council Tuesday morning, aldermen voted to undo the first official action taken by Mayor Alan Bradley.

Bradley was sworn in Monday morning at the Pope County Courthouse.

Although The Courier was not formally notified of the special meeting, and therefore could not be present, Bradley later explained in an interview he decided on Monday to remove long-time Police Chief Rod Pfeifer from his position and appoint Dover resident Donald Ramirez as the new chief. John Pritchard was also appointed as assistant police chief.

But according to Alderman Roger Lee, several council members and citizens were bothered by the sudden decision and asked a special meeting be held following Tuesday's swearing-in ceremony for alderman at city hall.

"We found out about the decision [Monday] after it happened," Lee said in an interview. "My largest concern was that a major decision was made concerning personnel of the city and there was no representation of the people other than the mayor involved in that decision."

He said all council members voted to override the mayor's decision to remove the police chief.

Bradley said he apologized publicly to the city council members during the meeting for not including them in his decision.

"I went about this the wrong way," Bradley said. "It was not a good decision for me to do it that way, and the city council and I walked away with an agreement that, in the future, we will work together to make these decisions."

Lee confirmed the council passed a resolution stating the mayor would not make any personnel changes without first consulting the council. He said a similar city ordinance would likely be drafted by the council's meeting next Tuesday.

Although Bradley would not make an official comment on Tuesday as to why he decided to remove the long-time police chief, he said, "There needs to be some work done within the police department."

As of Tuesday, Pfeifer was acting chief again. Bradley and Lee each said they were unsure if the issue would be raised again at the next scheduled council meeting.

Lee, Chris Loper, Ila Anderson and Pat McAlister were all sworn in to serve another term on the council Tuesday morning before the special meeting. McAlister declined to comment on the meeting when contacted by The Courier on Tuesday, and Loper and Anderson did not return phone calls from The Courier by press time.

Note: The Arkansas Freedom of Information Act requires all governing bodies to notify media entities of regular and special-called meetings at least two hours in advance. Mayor Alan Bradley and Alderman Roger Lee each apologized to The Courier if formal notification was not given and said they were unaware of the situation.